110 NATURAL AND ECONOMICAL HISTORY 
substance. The process of granulating sago is not practised 
in Ceylon. The exterior lamina and base of the stem of a 
Coco-nut tree is always much harder than the interior and 
upper portion. 
There is a palm called the King's Coco-nut^ the fruit of 
which has a bright yellow colour, but it does not appear to 
be a different species from the Cocos nucifera. Nuts of 
this kind contain a great proportion of fluid, which, on 
account of its supposed cooling quality, is given to inva- 
lids, in preference to that of the common nuts ; but they 
are not esteemed so good as common nuts for culinary 
purposes. 
The nut known by the name of the Maldive Coco-nut, 
Coco de Mer, Zee-calappers, Tavarcarse^ Sea Coco-nut, 
Double Coco-nut, Nux medic3i{Borassiis Sechellensis), is the 
produce of a palm-tree, which Rochon tells us abounds in 
the Isle of Palms, one of the Scychelle Islands, but no 
where else. The fruit presents an appearance of t^vo thighs ; 
in other respects it is not materially different from the com- 
mon coco-nut. The nuts which are occasionally found at 
the Maldive Islands have been carried by the current from 
the above-named Island. 
When the Maldive traders arrive at the ports of Galle 
or Colombo, in Ceylon, which they usually do once a year, 
it is customary for them to make a present to the governor 
of the island, or the commanding officer of the garrison, in 
a very formal manner. On this occasion, I have known a 
small portion of the kernel of one of these nuts form part 
of the donation ; from which it may be inferred that they 
imagine it to be an article of some value. 
Great medicinal virtues are ascribed to this nut b};^ the 
Indians, both in the prevention and cure of diseases. The 
venereal disease is supposed to be radically cured by it. 
Thunbeiig says, it is deemed a sovereign remedy against 
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